Category Archives: Lunacy

Anti-Vaxxers and Irrationality

Posted on Monday 3 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate: According to a New Study, Nothing Can Change an Anti-Vaxxer’s Mind Apparently you just can’t change anti-vaxxers’ minds. This reaction, where people become more assured of their stupid opinions when confronted with factual or scientific evidence proving them wrong, … Continue reading →

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Comments about the Ken Ham/Bill Nye Debate

Posted on Wednesday 5 February 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

A selection of comments about the Ken Ham/Bill Nye debate (which I didn’t watch). I think this is a demonstration about how some people think, and others don’t — they ‘believe’. (This divide between thinking and being is in a … Continue reading →

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Link Dump: Sites and Resources

Posted on Saturday 25 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m going through a whole bunch of links that I’ve bookmarked over the past couple years — some of which I should link as ‘resources’ in my right sidebar, perhaps — but for now will note in this post. Sites: … Continue reading →

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Are Some Folks Beyond Rational Thinking?

Posted on Friday 24 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

A classic post from Alternet that popped up in my Fb feed today for some reason — Human Stupidity Is Destroying the World. Do you believe in angels? Forty-five percent of Americans do. In fact, roughly 48 percent – Republicans … Continue reading →

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Debate Consternation

Posted on Monday 13 January 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

There is some consternation in the science/atheist community that Bill Nye, the Science Guy, has agreed to debate Ken Ham, the Kentucky Creation Museum guy, about evolution vs. creationism. The attitude many others in the science community (names too numerous … Continue reading →

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Links and Quotes about that Duck guy

Posted on Monday 23 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

I’d never heard of him or his show, until this past week. The controversy exposes a deep rift in American culture… which has always been there, I realize. Those of use who are forward looking, progressive, like to think the … Continue reading →

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David McRaney 2, Gravity, Haiyan, GRR Martin

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been meaning to close out my thoughts on David McRaney’s brilliant second book, YOU ARE NOW LESS DUMB, which I first posted about a month ago. First, let me follow up on his ‘narrative bias’ described in the first … Continue reading →

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Why People Believe in Conspiracies

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

With the JFK 50th anniversary upon us, there have been numerous stories lately about this. Here’s one in Slate that wonders why so many people are so taken by outlandish conspiracy theories. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2013/11/conspiracy_theory_psychology_people_who_claim_to_know_the_truth_about_jfk.html How can this be? How can so … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments, 6 Oct 13

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Many interesting posts this past week, some already posted on Facebook, collected here mostly for my future reference. Andrew Sullivan (The Dish) responds to a report about tea party voters. Sullivan: The bewildering economic and social and demographic changes have … Continue reading →

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David Barton, Just this once

Posted on Saturday 7 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Life is too short for this kind of post very often, but once in a while I can’t resist. Discredited historian David Barton (whose book about Jefferson was withdrawn by its [Christian] publisher Thomas Nelson, for gross inaccuracies), claims that … Continue reading →

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